Love without a soul
by Scorpion Lady
Summary: Sara's being forced to marry an abusive man she doesn't love, so she tries to kill herself. However, a mysterious young man shows up and saves her.


*Authors note* Aight, this is a story I wrote for english.  Buffy fans might be able to recognize one of the characters in here *grin*  Yea, I know.  Shamless plug I wrote for myself.  I couldn't make a direct referance to Buffy, so I just used Spike as one of these characters.  Anyways, I guess that's it.  NOW READ THE STORY AND REVIEW!!!

Love Without a Soul

"You, too, shall marry a suitable person whom we will choose for you." Said my mother, as my father nodded in agreement.  "You sister and your brothers have all been married before you in this way, and look how successful their marriages have been."

I did not answer my mother, as images of my siblings marriages flooded my memory.  I saw my sister, sobbing at our door because her insanely jealous husband had accused her of adultery and had hit her until she fled into the street.  And I saw my eldest brother, saddled with a wife who despised him and felt she had married beneath herself.  And my nearest brother, whose wife was adulterous at every opportunity.  Ah, yes, my parents had arranged highly successful marriages, I thought to myself, but said nothing.  I only wondered what was in store for me.

A "suitable person" was coming to dinner that very evening and perhaps I would, after all, fall in love.  In any case, my parents would not consider love to be a primary concern.  After all, they often reminded me, they themselves had never even met until their wedding day, but love grew anyway.  Perhaps they were right…

***

She went to dinner that evening, and as she had expected, it was horrible.  Her suitor, Shane, had been pleasant enough, but she soon found it was an act.  When her parents left to let them get to know each other, she soon found out that Shane was really a violent, vicious, abusive man.  So she had run away.  She was in the forest behind her house at the moment, sitting next to a creek.  It was her favorite place in the world.

"Don't be scared, Sara.  Anything is better then marrying him.  Even death…" She whispered to herself, in a shaky voice.  It was dark at the moment, as black as the velvet dress her mother would wear to her funeral.  She pulled a dagger from her pocket, and raised it to eye level.  It was a gorgeous dagger, one her parents claimed had existed for thousands of years, when the earth had been but a world of dust, and the stars had just begun to shine.  When the world was new, it was then the dagger was created.  She raised the sharpened edge to her wrist, and pricked her skin, testing the blade.  It drew a drop of blood, and she nodded to herself.  She was going to die, of that she was certain, and she slowly began to drag the knife across her wrist.  She grimaced at first, then relished in the pain.  He parents had always protected her; she had never known pain before this.  She gazed at the blood that was pooling from her wrist, dripping down into the grass she sat upon.  It fascinated her, the crimson liquid…it was the source of all life, and it was draining out of her as if it were water from a tap.  She leaned back against a tree, and closed her eyes.  She was beginning to get drowsy, and all she wanted was sleep.  It was at that moment she heard a noise behind her.  She tried to turn her head…she tried to look at this thing…but she was so tired…she couldn't see straight…her eyes were blurred…she closed her eyes, and finally let the darkness take her.

***

She opened her eyes, and looked about.  She was in her room.  But something wasn't right.  She wasn't supposed to be home...She was supposed to be somewhere else, but she couldn't remember where.  She looked at her wrist, and noticed a black handkerchief wrapped around it several times.  She removed it, trying to see what it was covering.  When she reached the last layer, it clung to her skin, stiff with blood.  As soon as she removed it, it was then that she remembered what had happened.

"I'm supposed to be dead…" She whispered to herself.  She stood up, with some difficulty, and opened the wooden door to her room.  She started down the stairs, taking each step slowly, as she was still tired from the loss of blood.  At last, she reached the bottom, and went inside the living room, where her mother was with another man.  She was tall, dark, and very handsome.  Clad completely in black, he had on a long trench coat, and a T-shirt underneath.  His eyes were blue, and his hair was so blonde it was almost white…

"Not naturally blonde…" she realized, "Bleached."  He also had a jagged scar across his right eyebrow.  Her mother turned to her when she entered the room.

"Ah, Sara.  I see you're awake.  This is William.  He found you in the forest last night, and brought you back to the house." Her mother started, smiling warmly at William.  Sara looked towards him, and flashed him a fake smile that didn't reach her eyes.  She then sat down.  Her mother continued talking to the man, and Sara sat and listened politely.  She was nearly bored to tears when the phone rang.  As soon as her mother went into the next room for the phone, Sara glared at William.

"Why did you do it?!" she asked, whispering furiously, so her mother couldn't hear her.

"Do what, pet?" He asked, in a British accent.  This surprised Sara, but only for a moment.  "Save you?  Prevent you from dying?"

"Yes!" she answered.  William smirked, then shrugged.

"Because you would have died."  Sara stared at him.  That was the stupidest answer she had ever heard…yet somehow, it made sense.  She blushed for some reason, then leaned back in her chair, and said nothing.  She was confused.  Why would a man she didn't even know save her, yet the man she was going to marry threaten to beat her?  She turned and left the room, not bothering to say goodbye to William, then went upstairs to get changed.  As soon as she was done, she headed out the back door to where she had been last night.  The place where she had tried to kill herself.  She reached the spot, and looked around.  Her blood was still there, dried to the grass in a rusty reddish color.  She sat down and leaned against the same tree, and closed her eyes, trying to find some answers.  It wasn't long before she was fast asleep.  When she woke, she was still in the same place, but someone else was with her.  It was that man.  The bleached idiot who had saved her in the first place.

"What do you want?" she asked him, her voice somewhat groggy as she had just woken up.  The man just looked at her, then shrugged.  "Why are you here?  What, are you following me?'  Once again, he merely shrugged, and looked away, watching a bird that had fluttered down about three feet from him.  She watched the bird for a few moments, then turned back to him.  "Why do I keep seeing you?   My dreams, in life.  You keep following me!  Why!?"  She ended this, nearly shouting.  The bird he was watching flew away quite suddenly, and William turned to look at her, considering her for a moment before speaking.

"Maybe I like you." His answer was quite plain, but she blushed visibly, then considered what he had just said.  She found it quite amusing, and laughed slightly to herself.  William looked confused.  "What?" he asked.

"Oh nothing…" she answered, still rather amused by the change of events.  "It's just that I find it ironic that the guy I'm being forced to marry is a complete jerk, and the guy I actually like I can't marry."  William raised his eyebrow at this, then shrugged once again, and looked away from her.  She sighed loudly, and brought her knees up to her chest, and rested her chin on them.  "Life sucks." She finally said, and William, to her surprise, nodded in agreement.

"That is does, pet.  That it does."  They both sat silently for a moment, then Sara spoke up again.

"Do you mind if I ask you something completely out of the blue?" she asked, and looked over to William again.  He shook his head, and she continued.  "Well, no offense, but what is up with your teeth?" William raised his eyebrow again, then smirked.

"Just grew that way." He answered, grinning.  It was true.  His teeth had grown in such a fashion that his two canines were longer then the others, and much pointier.

" You look like a vampire" she commented jokingly.

"Maybe I am." he said seriously, then smirked at the expression on her face.  "I'm just kidding." he said afterward, and Sara rolled her eyes and smiled slightly.  It was about that time she realized how late it was.

"Oh, sorry!  I have to go!" She said, then hurried off.  William smiled to himself.

"Maybe I am…" he whispered to himself.  "Maybe I am…"

***

It was almost twelve in the morning, and she was thinking about that person she had met earlier.

"William…" she said to herself.  She liked the name, and rolled it around in her mouth.  She was in her room, brushing her hair, when she heard a noise at her window.  Startled, she turned around, and looked out.  There was William, standing on the balcony outside her window.  She raised her eyebrow in confusion.

"What are you doing here?" She whispered, loud enough only for him to hear.  He wasn't supposed to be here!  She could get in trouble!  Besides…she was already distracted enough by his good looks in her memory, she didn't need him here to distract her in person!

"Well Luv, I was thinking.  You don't sound to happy about this arranged marriage thing, and I really like you…so I was…well…ummm…" he started, but ended up mumbling in the end.  This great plan he had had to have Sara run away with him didn't seem so great anymore.

"What were you thinking?" she asked, interested, despite herself.

"I was thinking you could run away.  With me."  The last part he added on as an afterthought.  Sara blinked.  She hadn't even considered running away, surprisingly enough.

"What…Why are you helping me?"

"Like I said before.  Maybe I like you."  Sara stared at him, for what seemed like decades, then smirked.

"I accept your offer." She answered.  William grinned, and pointed to a tree that was placed conveniently next to her bedroom window.  She looked around for a branch strong enough to hold her, and grabbed one.  Swinging lightly, she dropped to the ground, William landing next to her.  She smiled at him, and he gazed into her eyes.  He reached up and caressed her cheek, leaning in to kiss her.  She returned the gesture, and then turned away.  She pointed at the window, and motioned for him to follow her, further away from the house.  There was no point in getting caught before she ran away.  William led her around the front of the house, and motioned to a motorcycle a few houses away from hers.

"Yours?" she asked.  He grinned,

"It is now."  She grinned back, and hopped on the back.

She had never even noticed William didn't have a reflection.

***

_It's fifty years later, and Sara has not aged a day.  She is a predator of the night, stalking her victims along side her loved one, William.  She seems normal, but her teeth seem to have become longer; sharper.  She feeds on the life of other humans.  She has no conscience, no feeling, no soul.  But she can love._

Yea, yea, I know.  Horrible, ain't it?  Just review and tell me if you liked it.  People who flame me I will hunt down and shove the flames back up their ass where they came from =D


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